On Wednesday, July 22, 2015 at 1:45:03 AM UTC-4, wrote:
On Tue, 21 Jul 2015 17:20:41 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

On Tuesday, July 21, 2015 at 1:52:04 PM UTC-4, wrote:
On Tue, 21 Jul 2015 12:09:21 -0500, Califbill billnews wrote:

wrote:
On Tue, 21 Jul 2015 07:40:53 -0700 (PDT), Tim
wrote:

I don't know but I wouldn't say they're dead...yet, my Chris craft is an
'83 and the marquis is a '77. I'm redoing the interior on the Marquis at
the moment, but the Chris just got a good workout this past weekend.

Viva!

Mere pups. My Harris is from 1974.
I am looking at having a new one built but the guy I want to build it
is in Ohio and getting it here is a trick. I have a buddy in Ohio and
I may incorporate this into a road trip.
I rebuilt this boat in 1990 and I still do not see any production
boats that are built as well. Fire and Marine in Ohio builds
commercial stuff and they will build me anything I want.
In the end, it's cheaper than getting a Bennington or some other
premium brand. I am not really interested in all of that furniture and
they will not give you much of a discount if you delete it.

Have it lashed atop a freighter coming down the Ohio river to New Orleans.
Acquaintance did that when he bought a 32' aluminum Cat in Australia. Tied
to the top of a container ship going to San Pedro.

They want about $1800 to trailer it down here and I figure it will
cost about a third to half that to drive up and get it by the time I
buy food and a couple of hotels. If I spin it that I am just going up
to visit my buddy that is not bad at all. I figure I would drop the
trailer at the boat guy, go visit for a few days and pick it up on the
way back.

I might consider a Bennington S class if I could get one cheap enough.
I have a friend at the dealer watching for one that was sitting in
someone's yard rotting for a several years since I don't want any of
the topside stuff anyway. Then the question might be, what to do with
the motor if it came with one. I guess I would decide after I saw it.
My motor is 3 1/2 years old with over 800 hours on it. I still might
prefer that to a pig in a poke.,

There's a 25ft 2008 Premier Castaway with the PTX center toon close by for sale. It was left out to pretty much rot for several years. Needs new carpet and furniture. Two fishing seats in both the front and rear, live wells at each end, too. 150 four stroke Yamaha with 150 hours. Probably could be bought for $15k or maybe less.

That is more boat than I want and Premier is not really that good a
boat. anyway. To put this in perspective, all of the aluminum on the
one I was going to have built comes in at around $12k
I really want to stay in the 20-21' range because that is about all
that will fit on my lift and if it gets too big, it won't go a lot of
places where we go. I have an 18' Tracker I might be able to get for
free but I would kick back whatever I could sell the ~2008 50 Merc 2
stroke for. I am just not looking for an 18 either.

The good Bennington looks OK (that may be the G not the S) but it
really comes down to how they are built. I am tough on them.
That is why that commercial grade boat looks so good to me.

For your use the commercial built boat is probably the way to go. The Premier is built as good as the Bennington for a lake boat, but the Ben has a little better fit and finish in the interior furniture and helm (which you don't seem to care about). The Premier PTX has the edge in performance and handling (again, which you don't seem to care about).

How much would you have in the commercial boat after you finish outfitting it with "furniture" and running gear?